Raphael Mechoulam died in Jerusalem in Mar. 2023. Mechoulam was called “the father of cannabis research” for a lifetime of research that included discovering THC in 1964 and then in 1992 identifying the first endogenous cannabinoid (or endocannabinoid), a natural version of THC in the brain, which he and his colleagues named ‘anandamide,’ from the Sanskrit word ‘ananda,’ which means ‘eternal bliss’ or ‘supreme joy.’
Asher Cohen, President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where Mechoulam was a faculty member, states: “Most of the human and scientific knowledge about cannabis was accumulated thanks to Prof. Mechoulam. He paved the way for groundbreaking studies and initiated scientific cooperation between researchers around the world.”